The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still pursuing potential violations by crypto exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, according to comments from David Hirsch, head of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, during the Securities Enforcement Forum Central in Chicago on Tuesday.
The enforcement office is keeping tabs on other firms whose operations bear a resemblance to Coinbase and Binance, said Hirsch.
The probes also go beyond the high-profile exchanges to intermediaries and DeFi projects. In June, the SEC separately sued Coinbase and Binance for alleged violations of federal securities laws, and the cases remain tied up in court.
“We’re going to continue to be active as intermediaries,” Hirsch said, as first reported by CoinDesk. “That can be brokers, dealers, exchanges, clearing agencies, or any others who are active in this space, are within our jurisdiction, and not meeting their obligations, either through registration or failure to provide adequate or complete disclosures.”
However, the SEC has a limited enforcement budget, and targeting exchanges that have their business models threatened would lead to lengthy and costly legal battles. The SEC may not have the financial resources to pursue a slate of additional cases.
The agency has also faced a number of recent legal setbacks, including in cases related to crypto investment firm Grayscale and XRP issuer Ripple, knocking its otherwise powerful track record. On Monday, the SEC was denied a request to access Binance.US software, according to Bloomberg.
